Sanitary drinking fount



Patented July 2, 1929.

,UNITED 'STATESPATENT OFFICE.

'LOUISC. RATHBUN, OF OELWEIN, IOWA.

SANITARY DRINKING FOUNT.

Application filed March 23, .1928. Serial No. 264,134.

. therewith when not in use, said device being automatically resiliently controlled to normally remain out of communication with the faucet until manually brought into communication therewith releasably, and said device including means for closing both open ends of the fount for sanitary pur: poses when the fount is not in communicar tion with the faucet.

This object I have accomplished by the means which are hereinafter described and claimed,,and which areillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a front elevation of my improved drinking fount mounted upon a faucet but shifted out of communication therewith and having both of its open ends closed by the closure means therefor, parts of the fount device 1 being shown in vertical longitudinal section.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the devices of said Fig. 1, but showing the drinking fount in operative communication with said faucet. Fig. 3 is an under plan view of the drinking fount and its clamping means for the faucet, the fount being in relative position shown in said Fig. 1.

My invention is not restricted to the precise constructionand arrangement of parts herein shown and described, nor to the various details thereof, as the same may be modified or rearranged. in various particulars without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, one practical embodiment of which has been herein illustrated and described without attempting to show all of the various forms and modi-' fications in which my invention might be embodied.

The numeral 1 denotes a faucet of a well known type having an operating crank handle 2 011 the stem of a rock valve therein and having the usual downwardly curved spout 3.

My drinking fount device includes a clamping sleeve 4 embracing the termination of said spout and secured removably thereon by means of set-screws, or their equivalent, at 5. At one side said sleeve 1 has a depending stop projection 20, and opposite said projection has an angularly directed substantially horizontal shelf 6, provided with the annular, hole 24 which, however, is merely the open lower end of the sleeve 4. A laterally directed horizontal arm 7 has one end downturned and rigidly mounted upon the top of the shelf 6, the

outer end of saidarm being bent upwardly and rigidly connected to a projection 21 on a closure body 8 having a smooth flat lower surface.

Referring to said Fig. 3, the numeral 11 denotes a threaded depending stud on the under face of the shelf 6. A plate 16 has allat top placed in contact with the under face ofthe shelf 6 and is apertured to be seated rockingly upon said stud 11. A rod spring 13 has one end passed through a transverse hole 14; in the stud 11 contactmgly with theunder faceof the plate 16,

and is curved around the stud with its outwardly projecting part bent upwardly terminally and seated in a hole in an car ,15 on an annular body 17 which is rigidly mounted around the open top of one end of an U-shaped tube 18. A nut 12 on the threaded termination of the stud v11 is in contact with the inner part of said spring. The body 17 is a part of and depending from the plate 16 and the plate has a common aperture with said body 17 and said tube.

The outer .part of the tube 18 is somewhat closed top has a plurality-ofsmall delivery apertures 10 to deliver water therethrough to a drinker. The tip may be merely an open annulus to deliver an unbroken stream therethrough. The set-screws 5 serve con-' veniently to secure the sleeve upon the termination of the faucet spout 3, and in such a manner that the sleeve may be fitted removably upon any spout however short. The tube 18 has a minute drain hole 25 therein.

The spring 18 normally keeps the tube 18 swung around to a position where its delivery tip 19 is under and closed by the flat imperforate under face of the closure body 8 and is stopped thereby by the depending stop projection 9. At the same time the open end of the other member of the tube 19 is closed by the flat under face of the shelf 6, as shown in said Fig. 1. The body 8 may have an edge truncated at 10 to permit the tip 19 to pass thereunder without clashing.

The device may be used by manually swinging the tube 18 around until the edge of the plate 16 contacts with the stop 20, at which time the tube communicates with the sleeve 4 and spout 3. The operator may then rock the faucet handle 2 far enough to permita sufiicient supply of water to flow through the tube 18 and the delivery openings 23 of its tip. hen the tube 18 is released by the drinker, the spring 13 reacts to swing back the tube to close its open ends as hereiiibetore described. The tube cannot be left carelessly open when not in use, consequently, as its ends are closed so that no foreign matter can enter them, so that the interior of the tube is kept in a sanitary condition. The tip may be removed for cleaning;

It will be understood that when the drinker initially rocks the tube 18 to its delivery position, the spring 13' is placed under tension, andwhen released the swing is strong enough to return the tube to its said closed position.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In combination, an'open end delivery tube, means for removably mounting it rockingly upon and to comn'iunicate at times with the open end of a spout, and closure means mountedupon said mounting means, whereby the tube may be rocked out of communication with said spout and in a posit-ion where its open ends are closed by said closure means.

2. In combination, an open end. delivery tube, means for removably mounting it rockingly upon and to communicate at times with the open end of a spout, and closure means positioned so that when it is rocked out of communication with the spout its open ends are closed by the closure means.

3. In combination, an open-end delivery tube, means for removably mounting it rockingly upon andfto communicate at times with the open end of a spout, resili-ent'means operative upon said tubeto'normally rock it out of communication with the spout, and closure means positioned so that when it is rocked out of communication with the spout its open ends are closed by the closure means.

4. In combination, an open end delivery tube, means for mounting it rockingly upon and to communicate at times with the open end of a spout or conduit, closure means positioned so that'when said tube is rocked out of communication with the spout or conduit its open ends may be closed by the closure means, and stops upon said mount ing and said closure means adapted to limit the scope of movement of the tube-in opposite directions.

5. In combination, an U-shaped-delivery tube, means for mounting it rockingly upon a termination of a conduit to comn'iunicate at times therewith, and means for closing the open ends of said tube when rocked out of communication with the conduit;

6. In combination, an U-shaped delivery tube having an aperturedclosed delivery termination and a drainage hole at itslowest point, said tube having its other termination rockingly mounted upon an open end of a conduit for occasional communication therewith, and means-for closing both ends of said tube when out of communication.with the conduit. 7

7. In combination, a delivery tube mounted rockingly upon and to communicate occasionally with a conduit, closure means also mounted on said conduit and spaced'apart whereby when the tube is rocked in one direction to place it out of communication with said conduit both its ends will be closed by said spaced closure means, resilient means also mounted on said conduit bearing upon said-tube to normally rock it to a position to cause said closure means'to close the ends of thetube, and-means for restricting the scope of rocking movement of the tube;

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

LOUIS C. RATHBUN. 

